partial source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter
— If you recall, Stevie Richards was getting a fair amount of television time on ECW broadcasts throughout the summer and into the fall, but without warning, he completely disappeared. He hasn’t appeared on a single show since mid-September. What happened is that in October, Richards’ difficulties breathing worsened to the point that he needed have surgery on his throat — the first of five surgeries in 2007. Joey Styles wrote on the ECW website: “Stevie’s difficulties breathing worsened weekly until finally in October, Stevie endured the first of five surgeries that would continue through the remainder of 2007. The purpose of these surgeries was to open up Stevie’s airway, which had slowly and steadily been closing since April, and then to attempt to restore Stevie’s voice to the way it had sounded prior to the initial injury in 1997.” Styles notes that Richards has been suffering from issues stemming from his voice dating back to May 1997 after he broke his neck in a match with Terry Funk. Funk dropped a steel guardrail on top of Richards which struck him right in the back of his neck. Styles then goes into detail on the number of problems Richards has had to endure over the years in his column at this link. There’s also a post-surgery photo of Richards’ neck showing a huge stitched-up scar.
— Thanks to NIXON for the following… So I met Candice Michelle Tonight… She just randomly showed up at PWG’s All Star Weekend show tonight. AND She was clad in a Joey Ryan shirt, which was awesome! First, I would like to say that television does that woman no justice. I have never been a big fan of her, but she is a knockout in person. Absolutely beautiful. Second, she’s class act all the way. Extremely friendly with everyone,posed for pictures, gave hugs, answered questions, and she stayed for all four hours and watched the show. She seemed to be a legitimate fan. And did nothing to make herself known or take away from the show to focus on herself. So yeah, I am a converted Candice fan.
— Former WWE tag team The Gymini tried out for NBC’s American Gladiators. They didn’t get a callback for the show.
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